![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyear1. What was your first faire experience? Is there an experience that makes you cringe, remembering, that you can share?
september, 1993, stumbling in the front gate, seeing the morning dance and being asked to join in by Phoebe the Shepherdess (Debs, now Mistress Pugh the Laundress). Believe it or not, i'd never "danced" prior to that in my life. the next year, on my one and only visit, *she* remembered ME! the next year i was a faire performer, 5 years later i was doing my own gig. I can't say i owe her a lot, in that i've made it a point to thank her at least once every year since then. ;-)
there's reasons i want the morning dance restored to something like it was -- the next "me" (or somebody even better) may walk through that gate and never know that the 4th wall only exists as long as the patron wants it too; there's space on the other side for those who want to work for it.
as for cringing? no, not really. some of Scratch's pub sing antics weren't the most comfortable to watch, but i've managed to forget most of them over time given much better memories to hold on to.
the most annoying moment was having some well-endowed lady offer her chest to be iced down (while i was handing out ice to proper wenches (is there such a term?) for their bodice chillers). she simply wouldn't take *no* for an answer, even after i pointed out that cyd was 5 feet away. some people simply don't take a hint...
beyond that, any undesired "pass" i've usually had a good comeback line for to turn it down. i don't play "sex" flirt at faire; i become more a silly little boy, and i like it that way.
2. What actor will play you in the movie of your life?
ethan hawke might, if he sheds about 30 pounds. i'm not sure i'd want the movie made, however.
3. What one person has had the greatest influence on how you live?
there's no one greatest influence, as such. each part of my life has had an origin, but each is balanced in my life. my 9th grade english teacher i first learned shakespeare from; alan alda / Hawkeye in MASH, for his morality and ability to deal with it through humor; james burke for how i view history; disney and the makers of Fantasia for inciting my love of music as a 4 year old...
...but in the course of things, its still my parents for presenting me with the opportunaties to be so influenced by these people and encouraing that.
4. How have your religious beliefs changed as you've grown? Where did you begin, and how did you get to where you are now? (Where are you now, exactly?)
this covers some of it...
Baptised as a baby into the Episcopal church at St. Augustine, FL; always attended churches where the music program was strong (my mom always did choir when she was a full-time teacher; when substituting because of military moves, she also volunteered for sunday school), encouraging me into the youth choir and acolytes (i was quite a boy soprano at the time). by age 12, my voice didn't drop. it yodeled. for 3 1/2 years straight. i honestly lived in fear that i wouldn't have a voice on the other side...
i find that when the voices of extremes are at their loudest, i tend to shut down my vocalness. being a moderate, one who lives his faith with a strong sense of reason and education, makes trying to live in peaceful faith among a community very difficult when the noise drowns out the quiet conversation that God is trying to have with us.
the first time that happened was in college, where the voices are extreme evangelism (my faith is right because my parents said so) vs extreme athiesm (all faith is wrong because my parents did nothing but lie to me). easier to take what i had learned and keep my faith to myself than get into the arguments among those who would never be convinced beyond their closed little worldview.
After graduation, God called me back by one of those chance meetings i refuse to call chance -- while deciding between two job offers, one in MD the other nearer my old home in VA, the rector from my parish came in to the pizza hut i was eating lunch at. nothing specific to my situation was said, but it simply told me my "home" was still there as long as i needed it. i took the job in VA.
i have had, once or twice, what i interpret to be a direct intervention from The Spirit, but I won't go into the details here.
my church changed hands as that rector moved on to become Bishop, followed by the departure of my spiritual advisor and finally the organist. things are just too different, and its not home anymore.
since then, i've at least held my faith privately, as again we're in a time between extremes of tolerance without question vs. discrimination without love, both at the national level and within the episcopal church (always a microcosm of the mood of the nation, only without the biblical literalism and anti-science attitudes that pervade the "right" of the evangelical churches).
the extremism of the political-religious right has been driving me nuts, at times to the point of shame for calling myself "Christian", and i'm not done trying to resolve my way through that. hard to do so when "they" just keep making things worse for themselves and the country. This work is my current study, but given my education and reason, its not telling me much i didn't already know, just that i have the same views as most scientists have had for 300+ years.
long story short (too late), each phase of my life has been a very short but intense education, followed by a plateau where that education has served me well. today, the end of the plateau of my life since I was 24 is approaching and i'll hit another moment of intense education before the next plateau. i expect it will involve my eventual child(ren).
5. What's the best thing about being married to Cyd? :)
having someone willing to kick me in the butt and make me grow up. being a kid is much easier that way...
september, 1993, stumbling in the front gate, seeing the morning dance and being asked to join in by Phoebe the Shepherdess (Debs, now Mistress Pugh the Laundress). Believe it or not, i'd never "danced" prior to that in my life. the next year, on my one and only visit, *she* remembered ME! the next year i was a faire performer, 5 years later i was doing my own gig. I can't say i owe her a lot, in that i've made it a point to thank her at least once every year since then. ;-)
there's reasons i want the morning dance restored to something like it was -- the next "me" (or somebody even better) may walk through that gate and never know that the 4th wall only exists as long as the patron wants it too; there's space on the other side for those who want to work for it.
as for cringing? no, not really. some of Scratch's pub sing antics weren't the most comfortable to watch, but i've managed to forget most of them over time given much better memories to hold on to.
the most annoying moment was having some well-endowed lady offer her chest to be iced down (while i was handing out ice to proper wenches (is there such a term?) for their bodice chillers). she simply wouldn't take *no* for an answer, even after i pointed out that cyd was 5 feet away. some people simply don't take a hint...
beyond that, any undesired "pass" i've usually had a good comeback line for to turn it down. i don't play "sex" flirt at faire; i become more a silly little boy, and i like it that way.
2. What actor will play you in the movie of your life?
ethan hawke might, if he sheds about 30 pounds. i'm not sure i'd want the movie made, however.
3. What one person has had the greatest influence on how you live?
there's no one greatest influence, as such. each part of my life has had an origin, but each is balanced in my life. my 9th grade english teacher i first learned shakespeare from; alan alda / Hawkeye in MASH, for his morality and ability to deal with it through humor; james burke for how i view history; disney and the makers of Fantasia for inciting my love of music as a 4 year old...
...but in the course of things, its still my parents for presenting me with the opportunaties to be so influenced by these people and encouraing that.
4. How have your religious beliefs changed as you've grown? Where did you begin, and how did you get to where you are now? (Where are you now, exactly?)
this covers some of it...
Baptised as a baby into the Episcopal church at St. Augustine, FL; always attended churches where the music program was strong (my mom always did choir when she was a full-time teacher; when substituting because of military moves, she also volunteered for sunday school), encouraging me into the youth choir and acolytes (i was quite a boy soprano at the time). by age 12, my voice didn't drop. it yodeled. for 3 1/2 years straight. i honestly lived in fear that i wouldn't have a voice on the other side...
i find that when the voices of extremes are at their loudest, i tend to shut down my vocalness. being a moderate, one who lives his faith with a strong sense of reason and education, makes trying to live in peaceful faith among a community very difficult when the noise drowns out the quiet conversation that God is trying to have with us.
the first time that happened was in college, where the voices are extreme evangelism (my faith is right because my parents said so) vs extreme athiesm (all faith is wrong because my parents did nothing but lie to me). easier to take what i had learned and keep my faith to myself than get into the arguments among those who would never be convinced beyond their closed little worldview.
After graduation, God called me back by one of those chance meetings i refuse to call chance -- while deciding between two job offers, one in MD the other nearer my old home in VA, the rector from my parish came in to the pizza hut i was eating lunch at. nothing specific to my situation was said, but it simply told me my "home" was still there as long as i needed it. i took the job in VA.
i have had, once or twice, what i interpret to be a direct intervention from The Spirit, but I won't go into the details here.
my church changed hands as that rector moved on to become Bishop, followed by the departure of my spiritual advisor and finally the organist. things are just too different, and its not home anymore.
since then, i've at least held my faith privately, as again we're in a time between extremes of tolerance without question vs. discrimination without love, both at the national level and within the episcopal church (always a microcosm of the mood of the nation, only without the biblical literalism and anti-science attitudes that pervade the "right" of the evangelical churches).
the extremism of the political-religious right has been driving me nuts, at times to the point of shame for calling myself "Christian", and i'm not done trying to resolve my way through that. hard to do so when "they" just keep making things worse for themselves and the country. This work is my current study, but given my education and reason, its not telling me much i didn't already know, just that i have the same views as most scientists have had for 300+ years.
long story short (too late), each phase of my life has been a very short but intense education, followed by a plateau where that education has served me well. today, the end of the plateau of my life since I was 24 is approaching and i'll hit another moment of intense education before the next plateau. i expect it will involve my eventual child(ren).
5. What's the best thing about being married to Cyd? :)
having someone willing to kick me in the butt and make me grow up. being a kid is much easier that way...
